TORONTO (January 3, 2014) – CTV’s move of its original production SAVING HOPE to the coveted Thursdays at 9 p.m. timeslot was a winner last night as 1.5 million fans tuned in for Part One of the emotionally charged, two-episode, winter season premiere –the program’s biggest audience since Season 1. With significant growth compared to its summer premiere, SAVING HOPE finished as Thursday’s #1 drama, the most-watched program in its timeslot with total audience and key demos nationally, and led the simulcast winter premiere of ELEMENTARY (CBS/Global, 1.2 million) by 23%. The episode saw steady growth in the hour among A25-54 (+10%) and F25-54 (+9%). The episode peaked with 1.7 million viewers in the second half-hour and was watched by more than 3 million unique viewers overall.

Compared to its summer premiere, last night’s episode was up 70% among A25-54, 38% among A18-49, 35% among total viewers, and 12% among F18-49. The episode also saw growth among A18-49 in Toronto and Vancouver. Additionally, SAVING HOPE led its timeslot in Toronto, Calgary and Edmonton with total viewers and F25-54.

With the cast of SAVING HOPE live tweeting last night’s premiere, social networks were abuzz with #SavingHope trending in Canada during the premiere episode. Overall, there were 1,687 mentions of #SavingHope specifically on Twitter and more than 2,600 mentions of the show in Canada in the 24 hours surrounding the season premiere.

Canada viewers can watch last night’s episode on demand at CTV.ca and the CTV GO App.